Expository Writing and Other Nonsense

Not that expository writing is nonsense, but the majority of my post is a hodgepodge of just that.My new third grade friends will be starting a new unit on expository writing on Monday! I didn’t want to put them through the mundane task of describing how to make their bed or how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. No one cares about that.

So, I made good use of my resources and stopped by The Organized Classroom Blog’s Facebook page and got some good feedback. One of the suggestions was to have the kiddos make their own board games on a topic they’re currently learning about it –GENIUS — and you can see that unit here. I got some other really great ones and really liked the suggestion from Amy that mentioned having the kids write about things they are really good at – like making teachers mad! Or messing up their rooms! Ha! I LOVED it. Hence, came the creation of my newest writing packet. Click here to purchase it for just $2.00 at TpT or here to purchase it for the same price on Teacher’s Notebook. Here’s a preview:

I mentioned in an earlier post that I was teaching inferencing with my buddies. We did an activity last week with The Paper Bag Princess where they took home some little lunch-sized paper bags and filled them up with stuff about themselves. They were so cute. Some of them brought candy, others brought pictures of their family members and some brought some of the games they liked to play. Most of them decorated their little bags. We made inferences about each other by looking at the items in the bags. It was really fun!! Dummy me, though – I didn’t charge my camera battery and was only able to snap a picture of my own bag. Anyway- it was a great activity and the kids loved it. AND now they know how to make inferences when they read!

For my last piece of random information – I wanted to include some before and after pictures of my workspace at home. I was having a nervous breakdown because none of my “stuff” was organized. I just threw all of my activities, worksheets, and whatnots in the closet in my office and it was beginning to get out of control. So I did some tweaking of my space. I still have no idea how I am going to keep up with all of the lesson plans that I’m frantically creating all the time. Right now, they’re stored on my computer, on my external hard drive, AND on various jump drives. I would love to see a screen shot of how other teachers organize their lessons and activities and stuff on their computers. I just have no idea what I’m doing. But at least my office is organized now.